Bishops Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the settlements of Coate, Horton, Bourton and Easton, as well as the village of Bishops Cannings itself.
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The parish is now the third largest in Wiltshire, but was formerly larger. It lost a large area to the nearby town of Devizes, 2½ miles to the south-west,when there was a change of boundaries in 1835. Bishops Cannings had previously reached as far into Devizes as the Crammer, a large pond on the edge of the town centre. This may explain how Bishops Cannings comes to lay claim to being the place of origin of the legend of the Moonrakers.[1][2]
Historically, the parish was part of the Potterne and Cannings hundred of Wiltshire. A detailed parish history was published in 1953 by the Wiltshire Victoria County History.[3]
In 2001, the Census recorded a parish population of 1,566, in 650 households.[4]
Bishops Cannings is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for almost all significant local government functions.
Position: grid reference SU039641
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